Lenten Meditations: Thursday 8 March

LITURGICAL THEME FOR THE DAY: St. Felix was a Burgundian bishop who brought about the conversion of Sigebert, king of the East Angles, when that prince was in exile. Felix was summoned by the restored Sigebert and sent by St. Honorius of Canterbury to preach the gospel in East Anglia. In 631, Felix established his see at Dunwich, a town on the Suffolk coast that has been almost wholly washed away by the sea. He labored with much success for 17 years in Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire.

MEDITATION OF THE DAY: In the first chapter of the second book of the OT we are introduced to Israel’s mistreatment by the Egyptians. This framework provides a framework for the story of redemption past and present for Jew and Gentile. It is an age-old story of religious freedom when we see that Pharaoh did not allow the Hebrews to follow Moses into the wilderness to worship the Lord. The cry of the people will be a familiar motif for them and for the people today who live an Exodus experience as well. In God’s faithfulness he seeks to release them from their oppression which is not the same as being delivered them into a life of total rest. This is important to remember when we consider the Lenten Journey. Asking God to deliver us from a particular bondage that prevents us from being the people he would have us be is not the same as asking for an existence that is free from pain or hardship. Sadly, we must be followers of Jesus within the context of the human condition. It is that very condition that makes us seek that place where there is no longer crying or weeping but fullness of redemption.

PRAYER OF THE DAY: Father of light, in you is found no shadow of change but only the fullness of life and limitless truth. Open our heart to the voice of Your Word and free us from the original darkness that shadows our vision. Restore our sight that we may look upon your Son who calls us to repentance and a change of heart, for he lives and reigns with you for ever and ever. Amen

Lenten Discipline – Go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtyVdC7E6Wo and reflect on the song Jesus Breaks Every Chain and pray for those who seek such freedom.

ANCIENT WISDOM/PRESENT GRACE: “This grace is so excellent that neither the gift of prophecy, nor the working of miracles, nor even the most sublime speculation, is worth anything without it.” Thomas a Kempis, Imitation of Christ,